A collective of artisan knitters, community partners and sponsors working together to warm northern kids.

Friday, September 4, 2015

News from Cape Dorset

I got some news from Cape Dorset about our last packing night. As soon as the boxes were received, they were picked up by a teacher and taken to the school. Really, the message was so lovely. The teacher was quite moved by the thought that someone was thinking about the kids.

This week, I've been busy arranging for, and dropping off boxes to various ENT physicians. These lovely men and women take our stuff up to Iqaluit where it is distributed out of the clinic there. We've got another set of boxes which can go at the beginning of October, so if you've got hand-knits just waiting to go, please don't hesitate to drop them by! Now that we vacuum pack the boxes, we get twice the amount in there, at least which is great.

As for all of you who contributed the items below, I just wanted to let you know that they are already on the way to the clinic. Our cupboards are bare again! Its a great feeling, just knowing how appreciated your stuff is, and as Carlene says, it comes in, it goes out, pretty quickly.

I dropped off a bunch of your fur coat and craft donations to Larga Baffin, the home away from home for Inuit receiving in medical treatment in Ottawa, this week, and got a great email back. I also spoke to one of the women who told me about how her mother was the recipient of one of the last set of fur coats, and took it apart and resewed the fur into several mittens. Such a great notion, that hands will be warm for a long time and that furs that have been sitting in a closet for several years are appreciated and valued as something precious.

Carlene had some cool ideas about Larga Baffin. They are moving into new facilities and she's thinking we should have a kind of "house-warming" for them, but providing a bunch of knitted slippers, etc. What do we think?

WentheKnitter (Wendy Piper) made the above hats and vests. Wendy, you're getting to be quite the contributor. Thank you!

There was a cute label on these hats: "Paula and Joan (StatsCan)". Paula and Joan, did you make these while you were working at StatsCan? Did you make them on your lunch break? I need to know: there's a story there!

No name on these blankets but I loved them - they made me think of Carlene blankets.

Constantmac (Marlene of Ottawa) made these mittens. Marlene, I just loved your note - it was so generous and kind. You made my day!

What an amazing assortment of beautiful donations. God bless all the contributors and, of course, The Warm Hands Network for their incredibly wonderful cause. The photos have inspired me to GET KNITTING so I can contribute too!

I very much enjoyed joining the packing night! However - credit for the lovely warm blankets must go to someone else (I did contribute the mitts/slippers and neckwarmer in the pic at the end though). It was a real treat to be able to help open the boxes and see all the beautifully made warm goodies inside - look forward to being a part of more packing nights!

Gathering Warm Knitting for Cold Places

Our Projects for 2016/2017

We are gathering and shipping hand-knit hats, socks, mittens, gaitors, sweaters and blankets (no scarves please!) for 3 great causes:

1. We are shipping to Jimmy Hikok School in Kugluktuk, NU in January 2016 and again in September 2016. This project is targeted to kids Grade 6 and under.

2. We are shipping to elders and children of Nunnavut via shipments which go up to a clinic in Iqaluit via physicians who fly there each quarter. We have started sending boxes at least every 3 months for this project, targeting 150 pounds per shipment.

3. We are shipping to a women and children's shelter in Iqaluit. This shipment is ongoing.

We collect in Ottawa and Toronto, through our yarn stores and special events (see below for more information). You can mail or drop off your items there. If you have a specific project to which you would like to contribute, please let us know, by attaching a label to your item. If you provide your name or contact info, we'll post a picture of your item on this site!